The irony, I hope,will not be lost on anyone here in the KRV, that Sierra Kings District board of directors voted today to file bankruptcy, a chapter nine, municipal bankruptcy of a public healthcare district.
For those who are new to this blog, Sierra Kings District, is the, or will it be "was the", home of the criminally charged, Kern Valley Healthcare District, former CEO, Pamela Ott.
Ott who is charged with eight counts of elder abuse stemming from her time with KVHD, is currently on unpaid leave with the district, until the November preliminary hearings scheduled at the Kern County Superior Court.
Last month, September, Ott plead "not guilty whatsoever" to the elder abuse charges and was released on her on recognizance, pending the hearings, but with the provision that she not work in a skilled nursing facility. (I'm thinking maybe living in one might be the lesson)
After reading the article published on the web, by the Sierra Kings' local newspaper, "The Reedley Exponent," regarding the last month's board meeting, the new CEO and CFO, spoke of converting hospital beds into swing beds which could be used for skilled nursing.
I wonder how that plan, if it ever gets underway, as Sierra Kings voted on going with bankruptcy to solve their financial woes, will combine with Ott's employment and court orders?
What happened at Sierra Kings, other than the obvious?
Oh, the news of the Sierra Kings bankruptcy, which is scheduled to be filed tomorrow, according, to interim CEO, Sandy Haskins, reeks of timing I must say.
One month after Ott is talking innocence with a Kern County judge, her hospital, the one again in her care, under her leadership, is said to appear to be a "sinking ship" in the local Reedley newspaper.
But bankruptcy is a word I think all of us, and I mean all of us, (yes, I see you), will never forget as being the word that Ott used constantly here in the KRV: but not as a solution, rather an attack on people who would utter such a contemptible idea.
Now, Sierra Kings, Ott's latest adventure, will likely be saved from total annihilation by doing this.
In the same article from the Exponent, the latest word had been a gasping "plan" devised by the firm HFS Consultants, who have been working with the hospital for a year and supplied both the interim CEO, Haskins, and Chief Financial officer, Teresa Jacques. http://www.reedleyexponent.com/
Losing both CEO, Ott, to criminal charges, and CFO, Barbara Jennings, to some not really specific complaints, (she didn't do her job is basically what they are saying), Sierra Kings has filled it shoes with the resources of this consulting firm HFS.
You can find HFS off the website for the Association of California Healthcare Districts, ACHD. http://www.achd.org/
ACHD is a power player in the healthcare industry, and considering HFS is on the front page of their website, I'm assuming this company must be in the big league too.
Last week there was the unveiling at the SKDH board meeting of the three million dollar plan, hatched by HFS, which would be a complex, (and I'm sure costly), look at accounts recievable and billing issues. They were hoping to cull through lost monies and shore up the billing department.
But now it's bankruptcy. What a week it must have been in Reedley.
Although Haskins said, "We'd prefer not to have to do this," he elaborated on the fact that the hospital is cash poor and accounts recievable are out over 100 days.
He said, the board of directors has made the choice to go forward with the Chapter 9, and they "hope it will improve the situation."
This will be the story to follow at Sierra Kings, but the truth is that the problems here at KVHD may lead us to the same conclusions we came to ten years ago in 1999 when a CEO was fired for even mentioning the idea: Bankruptcy.
Pam Ott totally disagrees with bankruptcy. Where is she anyway?
Now, without it's CEO, Pam Ott, Sierra Kings faces a huge challenge to remain on the healthcare map as bankruptcy is both costly and risky.
HFS has apparently taken the helm for this round at Sierra Kings, but where's Pam Ott in all of this?
Ott, who in my opinion, considering the circumstances at Sierra Kings, and the criminal charges, will be moving her base of operation somewhere else in the near future. But then again, she has gotten awards from ACHD and worked with HFS, so she's in with some big guns which could protect her if they were so inclined.
Oh, but what a legacy (or scarring, whatever you want to call it) she left our respective healthcare districts.
KVHD, now known for its elder abuse, collusion, criminal negligence, retributive firings, obstruction of investigators, short staffing, and some really colorful scapegoating, has a cousin in Reedley, Sierra Kings.
They are now known for their own construction projects gone awry, a CEO charged with elder abuse, a suspicious termination of the finance officer, no money and now bankruptcy. (I'm sure there are other things I missed)
Bankruptcy is taboo
So, to tell this story I must go back to the fact that while Ott was with KVHD the legend goes that Mr. Robert Knight, CEO, wanted to bankrupt the district to shake off that mountain of debt brought about by mismanagement of a construction project some years earlier.
This lead to Ott and her gang just twisting it and spinning it, that Robert Knight, was a "threat to the healthcare district" as he wanted to bankrupt and get out of debt.
Well Knight, as CEO in 1999, and I will show you this paperwork someday, did have an attorney look into bankruptcy. It is a detailed report on the situation of the debt load they were trying to carry, and how a bankruptcy could save or renew the district.
Enter the bad guys, the antagonist, Cal Mtg.
I'm sure it wasn't the day after the bankruptcy report was made, but certainly shortly thereafter, our friends from the state agency who insured the 22 million in revenue bonds, Cal Mtg. came pounding on the door.
No way were they going to let us bankrupt without a fight. We, or the board of directors at the time, signed our district away on the construction project which brought us half a SNF and an inoperable OR.
But guess who ended up as the bad guy? Robert Knight because of his suggestion of bankruptcy. Not Brad Armstrong who still sits asleep at the board. Not the people in OSHPD who approved the building plans. Not the CEO of the time nor the board of the time.
Here's the funny part: Knight was not even at KVHD when the real damage was done with the revenue bonds. He was hired on after the disaster, expected to run a company with a huge debt load, yet, still blamed. Interesting how that worked.
(But you don't bankrupt on Cal Mtg.)I asked the interim CEO, Haskins, if Sierra Kings had any debt insured by Cal Mtg. and he reported that they did not.
Of course not, or they wouldn't even be considering Bankruptcy.
Cal Mtg. has the claws in its contracts set up so that, sure you can bankrupt, its legal, but we will take everything.
If you're interested, the state plan 2007, for Cal Mtg. is like a Stephen King novel in its descriptions of what happened to those who couldn't pay. My favorite story from the state plan involves some poor healthcare provider who couldn't pay. Rather than telling the state, they knew what was going to happen, so they just walked away and didn't even call.
Cal Mtg. actually went physically to the site to find that they were gone.
I think every healthcare provider out there should read that state plan before embarking on the Cal Mtg. deal.
Ott ramping up the propoganda: she used the blame game
Ott came to KVHD by way of the management company, BRIM, and CEO appointed, David Green (See: tracking down the troubles).
She started as Chief Nursing Officer in 2002 and was then neatly packaged as the new CEO by 2003. Dave Green basically handed her the keys to the family car and didn't check her license.
Well, Mr. Knight, won a seat on the board of directors, and he was not going away. (sound familiar) He was not going to be scapegoated without a fight, unlike others who have been taken down at KVHD.
That scrapper Knight, and then CEO, Ott, had some real problems. Where as Knight likes to tell it like it is, Ott's verbiage robotically and repeatedly contained the word "wonderful" or the Knight's did it.
Ott and the gang also accused Knight of not playing with the team about the seismic construction issues which included the Measure M general obligation bond for 12.5 million.
Knight had actually had a bid to do the retrofitting required by the state to keep the hospital in business and safe from earthquakes. (Though they would take us down in a New York minute if we didn't pay the Cal Mtg. debt payments. I guess this makes sense to somebody, only a politician I would think.)
But the Knights, who chose to fight and even run and serve on the board, (Currently, Mrs. Kathryn Knight is our chairwoman, which would have disturbed Miss Ott to no end, as you will see in the email below) have been telling the story of the hospital, it's relationship with Cal Mtg., the financial problems, and finally, we didn't listen when they tried to tell us about the nursing facility.
Why didn't anyone in this community listen?
There's a certain amount of dissappointment on my part as far as this community's ability to understand a problem and deal with it. Gossip, judgment, and ego have played a bigger role than fairness, understanding, and compassion which always seems to take a back seat to the baser preoccupations of people.
The "smallness" of this community makes the situation more pronounced, such as attacking people who are trying to help. Like the Knights.
I tell you if there are people to respect and appreciate it is the Knights. They have a lot of heart and have hung in there when being called many unrepeatable and factually untrue things. In fact, Pam Ott, made her career here on the backs of the gossip about the Knights.
So, I'll end this for the night, and take up after the KVHD board meeting tomorrow.
I'll leave you with the immortal words of Ott from an email in 2006: (by the way those are her typos not mine. And the first reference is to the election of Kathryn Knight to the board while losing the precious Measure M.)
Ok, I finnally finished listening to the load of cow excrement. I want you to know that I got up at 5am this morning in order to accomplish this arduous task (tee, hee). I can't believe that we are all going to have to listen to that squeely little voice for the next 4 years. What is God's plan, I would like to know!!!!!!!!!!! Here are my thoughts:
1. Bob openly admitted that his grand plan continues to be to bankrupt the district. The staff are being used as a ploy in his adventure. He is well aware of our fragile economic situation and that simply increasing salaries and increasing staff will do exactly that. It is not about his concern for staff because he is well aware that no one will have jobs if he is to succeed in his ploy. Here is where I stand on the subject, there will be no bankruptcy, but rather, Cal Mortgage will once again step in and demand that a management firm come to the rescue to turn around finances just as they did during Knight's last intentional attempt at bankruptcy.
2. Mr. Knight has made several attempts to convince me to turn around the District financial successes and move the district toward bankruptcy. He has stated to me that Cal Mortgage would have to forgive the $16 million debt. Because I refuse to comply with such a sinister plot and he knows that Chet Beedle will never comply with such a plan, he now wants to remove all management and replace the very staff who have not only turned the District around financially, but also have improved customer satisfaction and quality improvement . Mr. Knight has informed me on multiple occasions throughout this year that he has a plan to once again take over the management of the district and that , even though I am a good CEO, my ten year is up. He actually even told me that I should take a position in the probation department. (QUOTE ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD LIKE).
3. It is clear that both Knights have been in attendance at all Board meetings, but have not had the ability to assimilate information provided to them about the Measure M issues. First of all, why does he discount the ability of three very bright Board members who clearly understood the issues at hand? The Board and Administration had discussion frequently at meetings related to why retrofit was not a possibility. first of all, the community spoke clearly both in written and telephone survey that the current Acute care building does not have the capacity to provided the services that citizens would like to see such as an improved emergency department, cardiology and chemotherapy. We have discussed at the Board meetings that spending the approximate $25,000 to have architects propose retrofit plans is $25,000 spend on a project that will not give the Board any information that will be used based upon the fact that the district would still have an antiquated (loved your word), over crowded facility that would not meet today's standards for providing quality acute care services.
4. The discussion that they talked about Phil Foster and Tehachapi: Yes, If we were to use the modular concept with Aspen Street Architects, we could move forward far more expediently with a building project. Problem: Mr. Knight has some incompressible vendetta against Aspen Street Architects and if we do not use the already OSHPD approved modular concept, we will waste at least another year working with a new architect, spend $100's of thousands more on plans and wait for the average 2 years for OSHPD approval of plans. Three Board members understood the value of working with the Rural Health Design Network, a group of 13 Critical Access Hospitals who received a federal grant in order to save all of that money in order to meet the seismic standards in a very cost effective way.
5. Mr. Knight stated that I had already submitted a plan to OSHPD for the building of a net acute care wing: The plan presented to OSHPD was submitted in the year 2000, and Mr. Knight posed the Motion to submit those plans. I was not working with the district at that time.
6. Mr. Knight stated that he had made it clear in "a couple Board Meetings" that he stated that he would go along with the Measure "M" only if the District were to consider "rectalfit". The reality is the Mr. Knight posed the motion for the resolution that clearly stated that Measure "M" would build a new acute care facility to improve emergency services, provide more privacy, and to add Cardiology and Oncology services.
7. I cannot speak to the Gross's Clinic project that Mr. Knight has discussed. Discussion would be a clear breach of executive order of the Board. I am shocked that Mr. Knight has exposed his wife, who is not yet a board member and the media on executive protected information (quote me!).
8. As for the discussion about me bullying and cursing at staff: No comment except to say that I hope that he can find nursing staff who are willing to purger themselves in court, because that is where this discussion is going.
That's what came up for me, but I am sure that you will think of other issues - just call me!
(How do you like the tip of the iceberg. More to follow...)
No comments:
Post a Comment